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Covenant asylum seekers

Haven't seen this topic brought up, I thought it was pretty interesting. In the Spartan Ops episode 'Departure,' one of the Majestic Spartans talks about Covenant asylum seekers in Rio; he mentions a Sangheili terrorist who tried planting a bomb too.
Pretty interesting that Earth's allowing Covenant species asylum - probably away from the persecution of the fanatical Storm. Whilst I'm sure most of them are unggoy, kig-yar and so on, the fact that a Sangheili was able to operate as a terrorist in Rio implies that enough of them are there that his presence wasn't out of the ordinary.
I wonder if this has been going on for years, or if it's just been since the New Phoenix incident. Maybe some of the Storm wanted to get out, seeing what the Didact was prepared to do.
Makes me wonder where the Arbiter is in all of this; if the Covenant's having to flee their home planets and colonies to get away from the Storm, they can't be too politically stable.
Could be that he's on Earth as well.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] spartain ken 15
So everyone on Earth is okay with the covies living among them?
After they glassed half of Africa, killed Billions, and destroyed countless other worlds.
okay...[/quote]
Dude the Prophets, Brutes, and Elites were the ones that did all that craziness. The Grunts have no options, the Jackals are just Mercs, the Hunters.... i dont know they are just there, the Engineers were also forced and im sure the drones were forced as well.
Dont blame everyone for the craziness of the few.

In Cole Protocol, it is mentioned that UNSC/ONI has an almost complete hold on non-military slipspace travel and communications. Unless you were government, there was no legal way to get off a planet unless it is on an evac shuttle. The Innies are still doing slipspace runs to places like the Rubble, but the UNSC is trying to crack down on it.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] anton1792
The idea I always struggled to comprehend with this idea is how in the hell people didn't notice that holidays to Harvest were suddenly forbidden, and that the list of unavailable immigration and holiday destinations was growing bigger. If people never asked questions about that then maybe immigration and other movement of people between colonies was uncommon under the UNSC. Or maybe a complete halt to immigration and such was justified on the basis that ships and resources were all required for the war effort and such, and/or that the likelihood of attacks from Covenant raids were too high for non-essential space travel. Hell, maybe they even created the impression that many colonies were still there and faked news broadcasts and news stories and activity from them and such. Though not all of them I'd imagine. The occasional news of a colony attacked would galvanize people into the fight.[/quote]They could've used a rise of insurrection activity as an explanation of cancelled shuttles ect. Due to the UNSC's primitive communications people were not able to actually contact people on the planet and what little evidence of the attack that surfaced was swiftly censored by ONI.
Before the war no one really thought aliens would attack so that would not be most people's guess as to why shuttles were cancelled.
If I told you the reason that immigration and shuttles were cancelled due to a group of geocidal aliens annihilating all life on the planets would you believe me?
[Edited on 11.16.2012 8:47 AM PST]

They could tell people, and I'm sure many did, but I don't doubt the information censoring capabilities of ONI. A serving soldier that opens his or her mouth about certain facts of the war would risk breaking breaking moral, undermining public confidence in the UNSC, causing mass panic and harming the UNSC's war effort through a diminished economy as a result of the disaster. The number of military personal that are privy to the war's reality would have to know just how little the UNSC can actually do to save its people, and just how important it is to the fight that people remain confident in the UNSC, therefore I don't see any incentive for them to speak about it. In a way, they would be traitors to the cause.
Of course there may have been some who, for whatever reason, decided to say something but with the blanket of cyber security that lies over the UNSC from all the AI's they posses I don't doubt that sources would be quickly found and dealt with before it became widespread, with the perpetrator being discredited as a shell shocked and deluded individual locally.
It also depends on the extent of their own exposure to the war and how much of a view point they can get of each situation. Assuming they survive a lost battle, they may be told that reinforcements are on their way and that the fight isn't over yet, etc. Victories would also be over-emphasised with major defeats being a footnote and minor defeats probably not being mentioned at all. Or they might be passed off as "tactical victories", or "heroic last stands that gave the enemy a horrific pyrrhic victory."
The idea I always struggled to comprehend with this idea is how in the hell people didn't notice that holidays to Harvest were suddenly forbidden, and that the list of unavailable immigration and holiday destinations was growing bigger. If people never asked questions about that then maybe immigration and other movement of people between colonies was uncommon under the UNSC. Or maybe a complete halt to immigration and such was justified on the basis that ships and resources were all required for the war effort and such, and/or that the likelihood of attacks from Covenant raids were too high for non-essential space travel. Hell, maybe they even created the impression that many colonies were still there and faked news broadcasts and news stories and activity from them and such. Though not all of them I'd imagine. The occasional news of a colony attacked would galvanize people into the fight.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] spartain ken 15
So everyone on Earth is okay with the covies living among them?
After they glassed half of Africa, killed Billions, and destroyed countless other worlds.
okay...[/quote]
I don't remember it saying that everyone was happy. It's implied to be pretty rough, actually.
The UNSC has quite a bit to gain from doing this. After WWII, America helped nurse Europe, along with Germany, back to pre-war levels of economic growth and prosperity in spite of the fact that Germany just 4 years prior was hellbent on conquering them given the chance. So it's not an "out there" idea that someone offer's aid to a former enemy.
As far as the psychological impact of the war on Humanity, I think you're exaggerating. No one knew how bad the war was until after it had already stopped, in addition to the "out of sight, out of mind" factor and the "million is a statistic" notion. No one cares all that much about Joseph Kony and the LRA, or about Darfur. Now imagine how little people would care if it all happened in the past, but no longer happens now, but is only just being declassified now. I'd imagine that the short lived buzz over Kony would have even less of a lifetime in the spotlight than it did a few months ago. (Of course everyone likes to forget about Section 2's propaganda campaign and act like people would have been sitting watching live feeds of glassings and of the UNSC getting its ass kicked...)

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] ROBERTO jh
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] spartain ken 15
So everyone on Earth is okay with the covies living among them?
After they glassed half of Africa, killed Billions, and destroyed countless other worlds.
okay...[/quote]
No they aren't, obviously, anyone with two brain cells could figure out the humans aren't fine with the asylum seekers for the exact reasons the other guy listed. This is what Majestic was talking about in the first episode, all of unrest their presence is causing in hot spots like Rio.
Christ you people jump to conclusions fast.[/quote]
They should try and get covenant to serve in the UNSC.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] spartain ken 15
So everyone on Earth is okay with the covies living among them?
After they glassed half of Africa, killed Billions, and destroyed countless other worlds.
okay...[/quote]
No they aren't, obviously, anyone with two brain cells could figure out the humans aren't fine with the asylum seekers for the exact reasons the other guy listed. This is what Majestic was talking about in the first episode, all of unrest their presence is causing in hot spots like Rio.
Christ you people jump to conclusions fast.

I think the Kilo-5 trilogy is showing the Sangheili in a way that we haven't really seen before. Remember, Thel was injured when sparring when he was younger but was healed and the whole thing was covered up.
The Sangheili haven't [i] suddenly [/i] changed. We're just seeing more of their culture. But they are [i] starting [/i] to change.
Another thing to note is the projection -- the front they put on of being an honourable species, when they used active-camo and would sneak around. It was their fanatical zeal that originally set them apart from humans.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] switch 104 sv
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] spartain ken 15
So everyone on Earth is okay with the covies living among them?
After they glassed half of Africa, killed Billions, and destroyed countless other worlds.
okay...[/quote]
Yeah. Wouldn't they be? Turn the other cheek and all that.[/quote]
Written by Karen Travis

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] spartain ken 15
So everyone on Earth is okay with the covies living among them?
After they glassed half of Africa, killed Billions, and destroyed countless other worlds.
okay...[/quote]
Yeah. Wouldn't they be? Turn the other cheek and all that.

Pretty sure [i]The Thursday War[/i] showed Sangheili realising that their honour was just a fabrication encouraged by the San 'Shyuum - whilst they played soldier and acted all puffed up and noble, they were being manipulated.
Jul realised that honour wasn't the be-all and end-all, and that for their species to survive they'd need to stop this 'honour is more important than life' farce. Since he seems to be the de facto leader for the Neo-Covenant, it'd make sense that he spread that belief through them all.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] trojanlord95
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] ROBERTO jh
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] ninjakenzen
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] anton1792
I can see that more likely making things worse for the Arbiter to associate personally with a "Demon". If there is anything that the Sangheili hate more than Thel or Humans, it's Spartans.[/quote]
I would have thought it would be brutes. There's been many occasions where the Spartans gained the Elites respect. One example in GoO where Will punches a whole through a hunter and it gains the Elite in command's admiration.
They only hated Spartans because they were successful in their missions, as they where the enemy of the covenant and because they were hard to kill.[/quote]
Blowing up Halo was where the moniker demon came in. Chief wouldn't sit well with the Storm.
I'd wager the Elite bomber got the HAVOK nuke from some Jackal piracy ring. Though rare, it's not hard to believe they could capture a ship with a nuke, or otherwise find a derelict from the war that still has one onboard.
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] trojanlord95
The fact that 343 even thought it was reasonable to use a Sangheili as a representation of terrorism as an ordinary occurrence really shows how much they despise the old canon of elites being bound by an honour code.[/quote]
Or it shows the Elites' degredation as a result of constant war.[/quote]
"Death before dishonour" terrorism is one of the worst offences that can be committed in Sangheili society.[/quote]
Terrorism is looked down on in society, but as I said, this shows their degredation from a proud warrior race, to a splintered, confused and lost race of warriors trying desperately to find a place in this new, dark universe. A universe that seems to have no place for them, and we all know that people want to feel like they matter; that's part of the reason so many Elites couldn't swallow the idea that the Forerunners weren't gods. They're just too proud.
But "death before dishonor" is a code all Elite warriors live by.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] ROBERTO jh
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] ninjakenzen
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] anton1792
I can see that more likely making things worse for the Arbiter to associate personally with a "Demon". If there is anything that the Sangheili hate more than Thel or Humans, it's Spartans.[/quote]
I would have thought it would be brutes. There's been many occasions where the Spartans gained the Elites respect. One example in GoO where Will punches a whole through a hunter and it gains the Elite in command's admiration.
They only hated Spartans because they were successful in their missions, as they where the enemy of the covenant and because they were hard to kill.[/quote]
Blowing up Halo was where the moniker demon came in. Chief wouldn't sit well with the Storm.
I'd wager the Elite bomber got the HAVOK nuke from some Jackal piracy ring. Though rare, it's not hard to believe they could capture a ship with a nuke, or otherwise find a derelict from the war that still has one onboard.
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] trojanlord95
The fact that 343 even thought it was reasonable to use a Sangheili as a representation of terrorism as an ordinary occurrence really shows how much they despise the old canon of elites being bound by an honour code.[/quote]
Or it shows the Elites' degredation as a result of constant war.[/quote]
"Death before dishonour" terrorism is one of the worst offences that can be committed in Sangheili society.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] ninjakenzen
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] anton1792
I can see that more likely making things worse for the Arbiter to associate personally with a "Demon". If there is anything that the Sangheili hate more than Thel or Humans, it's Spartans.[/quote]
I would have thought it would be brutes. There's been many occasions where the Spartans gained the Elites respect. One example in GoO where Will punches a whole through a hunter and it gains the Elite in command's admiration.
They only hated Spartans because they were successful in their missions, as they where the enemy of the covenant and because they were hard to kill.[/quote]
Blowing up Halo was where the moniker demon came in. Chief wouldn't sit well with the Storm.
I'd wager the Elite bomber got the HAVOK nuke from some Jackal piracy ring. Though rare, it's not hard to believe they could capture a ship with a nuke, or otherwise find a derelict from the war that still has one onboard.
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] trojanlord95
The fact that 343 even thought it was reasonable to use a Sangheili as a representation of terrorism as an ordinary occurrence really shows how much they despise the old canon of elites being bound by an honour code.[/quote]
Or it shows the Elites' degredation as a result of constant war.
[Edited on 11.15.2012 3:26 PM PST]

The fact that 343 even thought it was reasonable to use a Sangheili as a representation of terrorism as an ordinary occurrence really shows how much they despise the old canon of elites being bound by an honour code.
[Edited on 11.15.2012 2:41 PM PST]

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] anton1792
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Wolverfrog
he mentions a Sangheili terrorist who tried planting a bomb too.[/quote]
A Havok nuke, no less. One wonders where the hell he got that from.
[/quote]
It is a good thing a significant faction of the human government is not supplying the elites with weapons. Oh, wait. If it turns out ONI slipped a terrorist a nuke in an attempt to incite humanity into war against the Elites/Storm/Neo-Covenant it would not surprise me in the least.
I find the idea of asylum seekers to be okay. Glasslands shows that situations of Sanghelios is violent to say the least. One keep was bombed because they decided to destroy a Forerunner relic. It would be reasonable to assume that the Elites who didn't believe in the Forerunners or the human-sympathizers among the Elites decided to get off Sangheilios before they are the ones getting shot at. It would explain the lack of human-sympathizers in Glasslands: they all left the planet in search of somewhere where they won't have their keeps bombed.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] ninjakenzen
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] anton1792
I can see that more likely making things worse for the Arbiter to associate personally with a "Demon". If there is anything that the Sangheili hate more than Thel or Humans, it's Spartans.[/quote]
I would have thought it would be brutes. There's been many occasions where the Spartans gained the Elites respect. One example in GoO where Will punches a whole through a hunter and it gains the Elite in command's admiration.
They only hated Spartans because they were successful in their missions, as they where the enemy of the covenant and because they were hard to kill.[/quote]
That was before 343i and Traviss altered their character though. The Elites don't really care about Brutes; they are fine to them really. They hate Spartans though; they are still referred to in a manner of derogatory slurs such as Demon despite the religious reasoning being moot. All these instances of Elites ever respecting, admiring or sympathizing with Spartans.Humanity are to be taken as "extreme minorities", as insipiently stupid and condescending to the intellect as that is.
Thel even being associated with the Master Chief would most likely fatally undermine his position in the newer canon setting. There is no duo.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] anton1792
I can see that more likely making things worse for the Arbiter to associate personally with a "Demon". If there is anything that the Sangheili hate more than Thel or Humans, it's Spartans.[/quote]
I would have thought it would be brutes. There's been many occasions where the Spartans gained the Elites respect. One example in GoO where Will punches a whole through a hunter and it gains the Elite in command's admiration.
They only hated Spartans because they were successful in their missions, as they where the enemy of the covenant and because they were hard to kill.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] anton1792
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Wolverfrog
he mentions a Sangheili terrorist who tried planting a bomb too.[/quote]
A Havok nuke, no less. One wonders where the hell he got that from.
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Wolverfrog
Pretty interesting that Earth's allowing Covenant species asylum - probably away from the persecution of the fanatical Storm. Whilst I'm sure most of them are unggoy, kig-yar and so on, the fact that a Sangheili was able to operate as a terrorist in Rio implies that enough of them are there that his presence wasn't out of the ordinary.
I wonder if this has been going on for years, or if it's just been since the New Phoenix incident. Maybe some of the Storm wanted to get out, seeing what the Didact was prepared to do.[/quote]
It could be the Neo-Covenant (I really don't think that they are called Storm) but I don't really see what reason Sangheili would have to seek asylum on Earth. If this "faction" has grown large enough to overthrow Sanghelios and return things almost to the way they were so that people would have no where else to run except Human space if they disagreed, then that would mean that their power grew so incredibly fast that they must have something extremely persuasive on their side. What do we know of that would make this entire species yet again seek genocide of another?
Well either they let everyone know about ONI's scheming, or they let everyone know about the Didact's anti-Human sentiment. In either case I don't see what reason a Sangheili would have to disagree. Disagreeing with the former would make them a traitor. I don't see them disagreeing with the latter either, or even caring about it enough to flee their homes. Abandoning their lifestyle and risking their lives and honour by fleeing just because they don't agree with a religious view and because Humans are going to get killed? I don't see Sangheili caring about that.
[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Wolverfrog
Makes me wonder where the Arbiter is in all of this; if the Covenant's having to flee their home planets and colonies to get away from the Storm, they can't be too politically stable.
Could be that he's on Earth as well.[/quote]
If he ran away then he would forever lose any chance to win and his ideals would be tarnished forever. If he isn't still in power, then it is likely he was killed.
--------------/
I have to wonder what has happened to the Great Schism. Evolutions made it clear that the Brutes and Prophets kept fighting the Elites furiously for years afterwards. The Brutes were receiving the services of the Prophets whilst the Elite's technology began to fail, ultimately resulting in them being pushed back. They only really survived because the Prophets vanished and the Brutes without cohesive leadership lost their focus on the Elites. It could be this that is causing the refugees. It would make a lot of sense and would fit with pre-established lore better than this Kilo-5 -blam!-, but it just seems unlikely that this "Storm" faction would be running around Forerunner ruins being obsessed with Humans whilst the Brutes and Prophets are burning their worlds to ash.
However maybe Jul really is that -blam!-ing stupid.[/quote]you just brought something interesting, could it be that the elites are fleing from the prophets/brutes?